Serbian economy remains resilient, Mali tells IMF mission

BELGRADE - The Serbian economy remains resilient in spite of global challenges and the next objective of Serbia's economic policy is to maintain economic growth and a low debt-to-GDP ratio, Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said at a meeting with an IMF mission on Wednesday.

A Finance Ministry delegation headed by Mali began talks with the IMF mission, led by Annette Kyobe.

As part of a second review under the current Policy Coordination Instrument, the mission will be in Belgrade until October 30.

The meeting addressed set and achieved objectives and current macroeconomic trends.

Mali informed the IMF representatives of the latest macroeconomic indicators and noted that the Serbian economy remained resilient in spite of global challenges.

Serbia has succeeded in maintaining macroeconomic stability, low public debt and economic growth, he said.

He also noted that, at a meeting in Washington last week, IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li had praised Serbia's efforts and the success of its monetary and fiscal policy in spite of all challenges, expressing the confidence Serbia would transform the challenges into opportunities.

The Finance Ministry and IMF representatives concluded that, to date, all objectives from the current arrangement had been met in the set time frames and that work on the next set of objectives was now underway.

Under the arrangement, the fiscal programme is based on fiscal deficits of up to 3 pct of GDP during an investment programme until 2027 and 2.5 pct in 2028-2029, respectively.